Here With You
by iCarlyRox18
Summary: "I wish there was a way to save moments like this," he murmurs. "...I've always wondered of every single moment that I've ever loved and if most of them - maybe even all of them - were with you." Through it all, they've managed to come out of it together, and that's the only thing he'd ever wanted and wished for. Soft M on the beach.


**A/N: So I saw Catching Fire (very first premiere, very first day, 8 PM)… I don't even want to talk about it because it was so beyond amazing that if I start, I won't be able to stop so… I'm just gonna say that it's incredible and you should definitely, 100% go see it and I'll leave it at that. **

**Anyway, after watching the beach scene in the movie (don't worry, I won't spoil anything), I had the strongest urge to write some future smut in that setting. So, thus was born this fic! lol. It's a pretty soft M—there's no swearing—so a heavy warning isn't needed. **

**This is set pre-epilogue about two years later. Katniss and Peeta are still slowly picking up the pieces, though they've made much progress since the beginning. **

**I hope you enjoy. :)**

_If you're broken, I will mend you_

_And I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on_

Peeta's toes dig into the sand, feeling the softness of it between them as he leans back on his hands and watches the vision before him in the ocean, standing knee deep in the water as she stares out into the distance.

It was a Saturday. After such a busy week at the bakery and some particularly unpleasant violent episodes, Peeta had took it upon himself to give both of them a day off. To live in the peace and quiet – even for just a few hours – of one of their favorite places in the world.

He pushes his hand through the sand slowly, still watching Katniss as he draws a figure with his forefinger in the sand absentmindedly. Looking down, he studies the three-pronged drawing and immediately recognizes it: a trident. Seeing the vast expanse of water, he can't help but think of a friend he wishes he remembered. Of Games he wishes he recalled.

Closing his eyes, Peeta listens to the gentle splashing of the waves on shore, feels the cool sand beneath him, smells the saltiness of the tide. He takes in a deep breath, releases it just as he opens his eyes. Clearer to him now, he observes the kaleidoscope of color that streaks the sky. He smiles. The sky had always been one of his favorite canvases – filled with beautiful paintings untouched by hands and an unparalleled continuum that could not be recreated anywhere else. It was his particular favorite now, at sunset. There among the yellow, pink, and purple he could see his favorite color.

But just before the far-reaching sunset is a vision much more beautiful and breathtaking to Peeta than anyone and anything else: Katniss Everdeen. He sees her reach down, lets her fingertips graze the water as she studies the ever-changing sky in all its glory.

It's then that he gets up, surrendering to the calling he feels coming from her direction. He comes up behind her, feels the cool water envelop his limbs as he wades up to her, placing his hands on her hips before pressing a small, lingering kiss to her bare shoulder. She just smiles, and leans back into him with a sigh when he fully wraps his arms around her. He breathes deeply, letting her soothing scent fill his nostrils. It is here with her that he finds tranquility, a rare peace that he's only been accustomed to in moments such as this one.

"What are you thinking?" he asks of her, watching the sun gradually descend from the sky.

"Mm," she hums. "Orange. That's still your favorite color…" She turns her head slightly to look at him. "Real or not real?"

"Real."

She just smiles and turns her head back to watch the sunset again.

"I wish there was a way to save moments like this," he murmurs after some time, still watching the skyline, continues when she turns her head again to look at him. "You know, to lock them away. Go back and watch them again whenever you wanted to… It surely would've helped me recover from what the Capitol did to me... I've always wondered of every single moment that I've ever loved and if most of them – maybe even all of them – were with you."

She doesn't say anything, just leans forward to press her lips against his softly. Her eyes speak to him an unspoken promise – a silent reassurance that he takes to heart.

"I love you."

He teases her. "Are you asking me if that's real or not?"

"Oh, it's real," she smiles. "Couldn't be any more real than my love for your cheese buns."

He laughs. "I've got some in the bag we brought. They won't be terribly warm, but they'll still be good."

"When are they not?"

He just grins widely, happy that she was happy. When she was like this, he knew he'd done a good thing, that he'd done something right. Only when Katniss was truly content – even for just a moment – did she act this playful.

"I do, too, you know," Peeta says when they start walking back to their spot on the shore hand-in-hand, continuing when she looks at him. "Love you, I mean."

She just smiles and continues walking beside him, relishing in the kiss that he places on her temple.

When they reach their spot on shore, he reaches into the bag to retrieve a towel for her. She takes it and dries off as he rummages through the items to grab the cheese buns.

"Got them," he says, hands her one before sinking down on the blanket next to her, laying on his side and propping his head up on his hand. He smiles as he watches her take a bite, catching the satisfaction she gets in her eyes at the familiar, delicious taste.

"Good?"

She just nods, unable to speak with how full her mouth was getting.

"Good," he laughs. "I swear, Katniss, sometimes I think the only way to your heart is through my cheese buns."

She smiles, finishes chewing. "It's your fault. You're the one who makes them so good all the time."

"Oh, and you're complaining?"

"No, I'm not complaining," she clarifies, looking at him with a teasing glint in her eyes. "I'm just saying _you_ don't have the right to."

He laughs again. "Well, I'm glad my amazing baking skills are enough to make you love me."

"I'm glad they're enough to make me full."

He laughs harder.

He's proud, he realizes. He's proud of himself, of Katniss. They've come so far from the indifference, the rough patches. The times when it was difficult for them to confide in one another after so much anguish and fear and destruction in their lives. But through it all, they've managed to come out of it together, and that's the only thing he'd ever wanted and wished for. He couldn't feel any more fortunate to be here with her right now.

With these thoughts in his mind, he can feel himself filling up – filling with his love for this woman. Clad in only her swimwear and a towel as a cloak, she's allowing him to see her for who she truly is. Before, she'd been scared. She was fearful of what he might think when the clothing was gone, when the barriers were taken down. When he could see nothing but her and her scars. He knows that she is so much more than just those wounds and marks, but it was difficult trying to get her to see that – it always had been.

She notices the way he'd gone silent, but it only takes the briefest of glances to see that he was thinking about her again. Thinking about how much he loves her and how proud he is of their progress.

Where they are now, on this beach and in the sand, memories from a time that would be better left uncovered come rushing back to them. No matter how much they progress in their healing, these memories will never leave them.

There is a silent communication that passes between the blue and grey that tints their eyes. Words unspoken. Words unneeded. It is only their eyes that need to meet which brings back the emotions of that period of time – the pain, anger, fear... These were the moments when scars were made, cuts—physical and emotional—were carved into their skin, and life as they knew it seemed almost unworthy of living.

With these thoughts floating between them, Peeta wants to make them vanish. The feelings that arise from thinking such thoughts, he knows, can only end in one terrible way. So wordlessly, he brings his hands up to cup her face gently – to stare at the simplistic beauty that lies beneath the face that weighs heavily with unspeakable burdens.

He loves her, he decides. He loves her more in this moment than he ever has – an inviolate love that he only ever knew looking into the face before him now. It's another moment, he decides, he wants to freeze and live in forever.

His thumb brushes softly over her lips, her eyes closed and basking in his gentle touch. Baker's hands, she knows, are some of the softest. Handling soft pieces of dough that conform easily in their hands, she understands why a baker's touch is so soothing.

It's these moments that Katniss loves perhaps the most – moments of gentleness and tenderness that she always knew in the Peeta before the war. At the same time, however, it pains her to remember – to recall the unchained, unharmed man he once was. The one that wasn't permanently emotionally scarred. The one who had absolute faith and love for her. She misses the Peeta who didn't have violent lashes every once in awhile.

She hates that this is the product of what she has hated the most.

Inching slowly towards her, Peeta presses his lips in a suggestion of touch over hers, as if afraid she might shatter in his arms if he doesn't move gently. His lips move against hers slowly, gradually becoming a deeper, closer mutuality of touch as she brings a hand up to latch around his neck, reciprocating the movements of his mouth on hers.

She feels a certain, almost indescribable warmth grow within her chest with every touch of his lips. A warmth she has equated before to feeling loved but had never really believed. She doesn't believe she is worthy of that. She doesn't think she even knows how to receive it. But here, right now, in Peeta's arms she finds that it is easy – that she feels a comfort in his closeness that she'd never felt with anyone else before. Once again, she welcomes his love and adoration. And he does the same with hers.

Opening her eyes, she's surprised upon discovering that she'd been laid down on the blanket, the soft sand beneath them shifting slightly as he hovers over her, laying gently on her as he kisses her soundly. She feels another blanket he'd brought being tossed over them, fully encasing them in each other's presence.

She cups his face with a single hand when they pull away, her thumb rubbing softly over his smooth chin, tracing over his firm jawline and soft lips, feeling the contrast of skin here and there. Looking into his face, so many memories and recollections pass her by. They've been through so much, worked through so much, fought through so much, and loved through so much. Into his face her heart calls, her love beckons. Though she'd been hesitant of accepting it before, she welcomes it without second thought now.

"You…" is all that escapes her lips. She finds she cannot find words for an instant.

"I'm sorry" she finds herself saying when they come to her.

He looks confused, puzzled by her sudden apology.

"I look at you and it makes me happy and sad," she says softly. "Mostly happy," she reassures him when she sees the slight disappointment in his face, "but beyond the happiness I feel, seeing your face reminds me of the untouched man you once were. I miss the way you were at peace with yourself and the world around you. You accepted who you were, what your role was – in anything at all. Even if it wasn't true in the least." She thinks back, but not far enough to step into the deep dark place she knows that lurks there. "When you told me that nobody needed you? That hurt me, Peeta. Because I knew I wasn't showing you enough how much I did – how much I still do."

She falls silent for a few seconds, waiting for a reaction from him, but when she doesn't get one, she continues.

"Haymitch told me once that I could live a thousand lifetimes and still not deserve you… Sometimes I still think it's true."

Peeta looks at her sadly, but with a slight glint of something else lighter in his blue eyes as he reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I love you" is all he whispers.

She laughs lightly, lets a tear escape. He knows what she needs to hear at the exact moment she needs to hear it. He was good at that. He always knows what to say. Even after being emotionally and psychologically stolen by the Capitol, Peeta never fails to give her the affection she feels she does not deserve. It was a paradox: hearing him say that – in whatever context – hurt and made her feel like soaring all at the same time.

"Why are you so good to me?" she asks softly, smiles up at him briefly.

"Because you deserve it," he replies against her lips.

"Do I?" she questions. "That's not what I've been told."

Peeta is quiet for a moment. He's almost motionless, looks deep into her grey eyes with a gaze that somehow reaches into her, the soft fingertips of his comfort grazing against her very being.

"Halt dich an mir fest," Peeta says, his voice barely above a whisper.

She looks at him questioningly.

"Hold on to me," he says, "weil das alles ist was bleibt." He looks at her, the love in his eyes almost devastating in the most beautiful of ways. "Because that's all what remains."

His breath is warm as it ghosts over her skin, and she shivers, but in a good way. She finds that there is a feeling stirring in her heart – one that she's felt many times before under Peeta's worship but still does not quite understand.

Peeta dips his head to kiss along her skin, feeling the smooth flesh beneath his warm lips. He explores her body, worships it with his own as he kisses and caresses every expanse of skin exposed to him. He bares her with his hands, both of them stripping down to their purest selves, at the same time uncovering their souls to each other. Here in their makeshift encapsulant, they find comfort. They find clarification and reassurance. They find the greatest truth that has been concealed for so long and hold it to each other's hearts. With this, they have seen the world with new clarity, giving themselves and each other a definition that once in their lives escaped them and has time and time again torn them into pieces like a wave crashing into the jagged sediment of a cliff.

It is here they are safe. It is here they are warm.

"_Peeta_," she gasps, her body arching of its own accord. "Oh… Please… Deeper…"

Her warm hand glides down his back, pushing him further into her when she reaches the curve of his bottom. He's deeper now, and he groans against her skin, still pushing into her at the same steady, measured pace he'd been maintaining.

With their shared body heat trapped underneath the blanket, Peeta can feel the temperature slowly rising, basking in the warmth that surrounds him.

They both love these moments, lost in their own little world, feeling as if they are in no one's presence but their own. Being connected together in the most intimate of ways, the pleasure rising above all their senses, they don't harbor any worries. In these moments they need only be concerned with one another – something that they needed for a long time. This was their healing balm, a sort of closeness that allowed them to mend each other in whatever way they needed to.

"Katniss," he whispers almost reverently, kissing down the column of her throat as he continues to push into her. She mewls softly, her eyes closed, letting out small noises of pleasure every now and then.

He moves his attention down to her chest, kissing all around before finally latching onto a peak and suckling softly.

"Peeta," she gasps, the sensation sending goosebumps down her body before an immense pleasure shoots down into her core. "Oh, God…"

He feels the resulting pulse of her walls around him, and his breath hitches, unable to stop himself from moving just a little faster.

"Oh, Peeta," she moans, a little louder this time. "Peeta… Don't stop… Please…"

"Never," he murmurs back, pushing himself into her as deep as possible now, desperate to bring them together as close as possible.

"Katniss," he groans, sweeping his lips over her collarbone, licking and sucking gently here and there. "You feel so good…"

He pulls out, adjusts the angle of his hips, before pushing back into her all the way to the hilt, and Katniss cries out.

"Yes! Peeta!" she cries, her head falling back and eyes rolling back into her head. "Peeta… Ohh…"

She keeps moaning, and the sound of his name falling from her lips in sensual bliss is threatening to push him over the edge with each passing second. He groans softly, concentrating on the feeling of her around him, watching her body signals for signs that she is close to her ending.

It's then that her hips begin to move against his, pushing up desperately to meet his own as he lets out a low groan. "Katniss," he almost growls when he feels her legs come up to wrap around his waist, pushing them together even tighter than before. "God…"

She cries out loudly when he pushes into her harder, feels the tip of him brush against the spot deep inside her, sending white hot flashes of pleasure cascading through her body. She can feel the pleasure escalating quickly, can almost feel it pouring into her veins, making her heart beat faster, her vision blurry, and her senses heightened.

"Peeta… Peeta, you feel so good," she whimpers, back arching as her walls pulsate harshly around him.

"Ungh… God…" Peeta groans lowly, desperately trying to hold back. "Katniss… Let go… Please…"

Reaching down, he boldly brushes his thumb in circles against her, and she immediately cries out, tensing before releasing and moaning in his ear with the intense waves of pleasure. She can hear him chanting her name like a mantra, desperately trying to hold on, but she knows he's there with her.

"Katniss… Katniss… Katniss…" he whispers, his voice sounding strained. "Oh… I think I'm going to…"

His muscles seize up as he finally tumbles over the metaphorical cliff, falling into the blissful abyss as she continues to writhe and whimper beneath him. They're lost now, their minds completely obliterated of all other thought but each other. She's trembling, mirroring the body which hovers above her.

He gazes at her, and she sees a look – euphoric and content – in his face. His eyes look almost droopy, as if he'd been given drugs of some sort, and she suppresses the urge to laugh.

"You okay?" he rasps, his voice sounding weak, tired.

She laughs lightly. "More than okay."

He nods. "Good… Good."

He moves to the side, still trembling, before wrapping the blanket tighter around them. He wraps her securely in his embrace, pressing a final kiss to her shoulder. He can still hear the sounds of the world around them clearly despite the waning sunlight, closes his eyes to store away the moment in his memory.

Because right here, right now, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen find that they have finally found peace.

_I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind_

_I'll do it all for you in time_

_And out of all these things I've done,_

_I will love you better now._

**A/N: Alright, so I hope you've enjoyed that! :) If you were wondering, the lyrics are from the song "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran – it is a beautiful song, and its message is just purely wonderful and you should definitely listen to it. I reckon some of the lyrics fit Katniss and Peeta's situation in the book at times, so you might like it! Let me know what you think of it if you do. :)**

**Also, if you were wondering about what language Peeta starts speaking, it's German. The phrase is from a song called "Halt dich an mir fest" by Revolverhead. Check that one out, too, if you get the chance! It's also a beautiful song. (Check out the translation for it, obviously. It's available on lyricstranslate dot com.) **

**On another note, this is my second fic for The Hunger Games, and once again, I hope I've done Katniss and Peeta justice. I cannot express my love enough for this series; I've loved it ever since I picked it up four years ago, and I think we are blessed to have built up enough of a following to have the series transformed into a movie franchise! **

**Oh, and by the way, as I start to slowly integrate myself into the HG fanfiction world, please don't be fooled or turned off by my username – I know a lot of people think iCarly is a show for kids, but trust me, I used to follow the fandom a lot, and there are definitely a lot of 18+ people on it, which is what I am, so don't think I'm some pervy 12-year-old writing smutty fics for HG. lol. Don't you think the writing would be **_**a little**_** more immature? Exactly. :)**

**Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed! Drop me a line or welcome me to the fandom in that box down below! I'll most likely respond!**


End file.
